He was in Portland, Maine, where his Binghamton Senators were in the middle of a four-games-in-five-nights road swing. And, yes, they travel the American Hockey League by bus.

The night before, in a clash of the Sharks' past and future, Cheechoo's team had lost in Worcester, Mass., as star prospect Logan Couture scored the winner.

"That," Cheechoo said, "was a little different."

But even though Cheechoo — one of the most popular players in Sharks history — conceded that it's frustrating to be back in the minors, he wants people in the Bay Area to know one thing:

He still is an NHL-level player.

"This isn't an ideal situation, and it's certainly something that you don't want to go through," he said. "But I believe I belong up there. It's up to me to prove that I'm still the player I believe I am."

It has been a stunning fall for a player who just four years ago led the NHL with 56 goals and still is only 29 years old. As one columnist wrote when the Ottawa Senators sent him down in February: The Cheechoo Train has gone off the tracks.

Cheechoo is among those caught off guard by the latest career twist.

"I didn't see this coming," he said.

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But his production has dropped since that magical Rocket Richard Trophy season. In September, the Sharks sent Cheechoo and Milan Michalek to Ottawa in the Dany Heatley trade. Cheechoo was closer to where he grew up — tiny Moose Factory, Ontario — and the Senators hoped the change of scenery might help him regain his scoring ability. It hasn't happened.

When the Senators came to San Jose in late November, Cheechoo already was struggling under the pressure to impress his new team. Then before the Olympic break in mid-February, when Ottawa traded for Carolina's Matt Cullen, Cheechoo became a salary-cap casualty. In 61 games, he had only five goals and nine assists with a minus-13 rating, and his ice time was dwindling. He wasn't justifying his $3.5 million salary.

He cleared waivers, then was off to the upstate New York city of Binghamton.

"I knew that I wasn't playing the way I should," he said. "I understand that the important thing is what you're doing and not what you've done. I wasn't producing at the level that they felt I should be."

Ottawa general manager Bryan Murray said the winger was playing tentatively. Questions were revived if Cheechoo, who underwent surgery for a double hernia in 2007, had been waylaid by injuries.

"I am healthy," Cheechoo countered emphatically.

Maybe the best explanation came from an NHL scout quoted anonymously by the Ottawa Sun.

"I would think what's happened here is he has very little confidence left in himself," the scout said. "He used to score goals with ease. When you don't score goals and that's what you're used to doing, it can really wear you down."

The expectation is that Ottawa will buy out the final year of his contract — he's due another $3.5 million. That would allow Cheechoo to join an organization that believes he has a second act as an NHL player.

"He's hoping that his career has lots of time left in it," said Thane Campbell, Cheechoo's agent. "He wants to show people that, and I think he will."

Cheechoo has been praised for his attitude in Binghamton. But the club is tied for last in its AHL division, and Cheechoo's numbers (four goals, five assists, minus-7 rating in 14 games) aren't exactly stellar.

Then again, he is about as far away from receiving Joe Thornton passes as a guy could get and still be playing pro hockey.

Cheechoo's plan is to finish the season in the AHL and then return to the South Bay. His wife, Ashley, is a San Jose native, and they have kept their Willow Glen home.

"I'm still pretty young, and I have a lot of hockey left," Cheechoo said. "I need to find a team that is looking for somebody who has my skills. But it's up to me to find my scoring touch again."